


All the King's Men

by vantas



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, M/M, Pining, not season 6 compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vantas/pseuds/vantas
Summary: There's something different about Shiro.  (Or: In which the writing's on the wall, and Keith does his absolute best to ignore it.)





	All the King's Men

**Author's Note:**

> Gift for [apaladinagain](http://apaladinagain.tumblr.com/) as part of the [Sheith Flower Exchange](https://sheithbouquet.tumblr.com/)! Their request was: Marjoram (Delusion, Illusion), Peruvian Heliotrope (Devotion), and Rose Dog (Pleasure and Pain), with both Keith and Shiro realizing there's something wrong with Shiro but not knowing what. 
> 
> Written pre-s6 so. Vaguely gestures.

This is Shiro.

Keith stares at the trail of unconscious soldiers at his feet.  He stares at the shaking, sniveling, sobbing heap in the corner of the room — a civilian they had rescued.  The term _rescued_ is used loosely in this instance, if only because Keith is certain that rescuing someone is an antonym of rendering them scared and terrified.

But it wasn't like Shiro meant to.

He _knows_ Shiro didn't mean to.

Keith lifts his head, his mask deactivated and his hood pushed down.  Even in the dim lighting of the area they've found themselves in, he can still make out the telltale shape of Shiro's silhouette.  He stands at the end of the hallway, his back towards Keith as he uses his paladin suit's features to scan the area.  He is bathed in purple lights, making him feel somewhat ethereal even when he performs something as mundane as a security check.  Another person, perhaps the alien currently sobbing in the corner of the room, may use another objective. 

Frightening.  Intense.  Single minded.  Ferocious. 

He does not know how those objectives came to fit Shiro, but he knows that this is Shiro.  This is the man he spent months searching for.  The man who never gave up for him.  The very same, wonderful, honest human being who took one look at Keith and saw something precious.  Something worth investing time and effort into, despite all evidence pointing towards the contrary.  This is the man Keith fell in love with, after finally allowing himself to care for another person.

This is Shiro.

Keith crouches down next to the shaking pile of limbs in the corner of the room, giving them his most comforting smile even if it feels unnatural to him.  It occurs to him that none of the other children at the home felt at ease at him when he forced himself to (quote, _unquote_ ) play nice with the others, and that perhaps his inability to fake it until he made it had something to do with it.  "It's okay," he tells them, "We're Paladins of Voltron.  We're here to help you."

Well, technically, Shiro is a Paladin of Voltron.  Keith is not.  _Technically_ , Keith is a member of the Blade of Marmora.  Two distinct roles, neither of which interact in the way others seem to believe they do.  But it's a lie that easily slips through his lips, born out of habit in place of any conscious effort to conceal the truth.  It does the trick, however, and the civilian seems to calm down enough to produce coherent sentences.

He can hear Shiro move all the way from the end of the hallway.

"Keith," he calls out, his voice calm and entirely unlike what he witnessed mere minutes ago.  "I found what we're looking for.  Let's move."

He gives the alien a holopad with a tablet of the outpost's blueprints.  If they're lucky, they'll be able to make their way out of here unscathed.

Keith stands up in one switch movement and begins to make his way over to Shiro.

( _This is Shiro_ , he repeats to himself.

It is a mantra.  The prayer of someone who is willingly deluding themselves for the sake of another.  The desperate plea of a man who refuses to let go of the past.

This is Shiro.

But sometimes, Keith wonders.)

* * *

The mission had started off not with a bang, but with a whisper.

"It's been a while since we've been together like this,"  Keith comments, peering over Shiro's shoulder in order to see the information presented on the tablet's screen.  He still doesn't know if it's a blessing or a curse that the Blade of Marmora has established a tentative peace with the Empire in light of Lotor's rule, but he does know that it's allowed him to work side by side with his old friends once again.  And at this moment, Keith isn't the type of person who would look at a gift horse in the mouth.  Not if it means he can stand by Shiro's side once again, however temporarily it may be.

"I know,"  Shiro responds, nodding.  His smile is as radiant as ever, his gaze soft as he tilts his head to look at Keith from the corner of his eyes.  Keith feels his stomach do somersaults, his heart performing gymnastic flips to accompany it.  His face is moving of its own accord, the corners of his lips tilting up into a smile to match Shiro's own.  "I was starting to worry we would never get to do this again," Shiro adds, "I'm glad to know I was wrong."

Keith gets closer to Shiro's back.  He pointedly pretends to be very interested in the contents of the screen.  "Of course we'll get to do this again.  As many times as we want, in fact," Keith says, his left hand pressed against Shiro's shoulder.  "You know you guys can count on me whenever. I— I don't need Kolivan's permission to work with my friends."

Shiro huffs out a laugh, scrolling to the next page on the tablet.  "Is that mutiny I hear, Keith? I'm shocked."

"Shiro," Keith begins, rolling his eyes.  "You've known me for years.  You _know_ I'm all about mutiny.  Might as well be my middle name, if I had one."

This time, Shiro's laughter is free and unbidden.  It's the most beautiful sound Keith had ever heard.  He never wants to stop hearing it.  He would do anything to keep hearing it for the rest of his natural life.

"You got me there," Shiro accedes, his tone filled with mirth.  "How could I ever expect anything else from the one and only Keith Kogane?"

Keith beams.  He pointedly ignores the heat making its way up his neck, his cheeks, his ears. 

(The others had warned him about Shiro's attitude.  They had told him about his mounting stress, about his reduced patience, and his inability to take the rest of the team into consideration when taking a decision.

 _"He stole away on the Black Lion and went to the Kral Zera in opposition of the team's wishes,"_   Allura had told him, her tone speaking of vitriol but her body language speaking of _hurt_.  Of betrayal, similar to that which she has experienced before. 

 _"Yeah, and he got Lotor crowned as Emperor,"_   Keith had retorted, unwilling to consider that Shiro may have made a bad decision.  _"What's the problem with that?"_

There was no problem.  Shiro got back from another stint as a prisoner of the galra, and he was struggling with it.  But Shiro's a great leader.  He's a great friend.  And Keith knows, that no matter what, Shiro is Shiro.

Besides, Shiro is no different from how he last saw him.  He is still good and honest.  A person who would do anything for his friends.

He's more than Keith deserves.)

When Shiro stands up from his seat, he bumps shoulders with Keith.

Being back is truly a blessing.

* * *

Everything should have been simple enough.

The Blade of Marmora had identified an abandoned outpost in formerly galran occupied territory.  Keith didn't really understand most of the specific, technical babble going in through one ear and coming out of the other, but he _did_ recall the important details.  He knew that it had been a base of command during Zarkon's reign.  He understood that said outpost had been abandoned in a hurry after an uprising from the local sentient lifeforms.  He comprehended that it is of the utmost importance that they retrieve whatever information is still stored within the the base, so that the newly reformed Empire and Voltron could benefit from it.

Keith had no trouble parsing this information.

What he truly did not understand, however, was how everything could have gone so wrong.

(But maybe assuming the base had been truly abandoned was their first mistake.)

* * *

Shiro fights unlike anything or anyone Keith has ever laid his eyes on before.

He moves like a flurry, each movement precise and backed with a ferocity that would leave a lesser man quaking in his boots.  Every blow pacts a fatal amount of strength, plowing through packs of enemy soldiers like they're nothing but fodder. It's an impressing sight to be sure, but there is something about it that strikes Keith as odd.  A minute difference in what Keith remembers of his best friend's fighting style.  A result of his captivity, perhaps.  Nothing to worry about.

Or, at least, it should have been nothing to worry about until failed to distinguish between _enemy_ and _unfortunate hostage_.

Keith's body is moving on its own before he's even aware of what he's doing.  He slips between Shiro and the hostage, pushing the alien behind him as Shiro's prosthetic arm comes inches away from impaling Keith's neck.

( _This is Shiro_ , he reminds himself.

This is Shiro.)

* * *

The mission ends.

Keith takes Shiro's hand in his own, looking up at him.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Shiro looks at him.  The smile on his lips is not as genuine as it could be, but it's there.  Keith isn't sure if this is better or worse than no smile at all.

"Yeah... I'm okay.  Why wouldn't I be?"

* * *

( _"Why wouldn't I be?"_ is a big question.

Keith is gone.  The Castle of Lions enters its sleep cycle.  Shiro looks at his own reflection in the mirror, observing the dark circles around his eyes and making notes of all the little imperfections.  He is tired.  He feels stressed.  His headache is unbearable.

Something feels like it's wrong.

But it's okay.

This is only temporary.

Or so he hopes.)

**Author's Note:**

> find me on: [tumblr](http://carcinology.tumblr.com/) • [twitter](https://twitter.com/beheads).


End file.
